Big Screen Classics Gallery

THE LAFAYETTE THEATRE
PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE

NOTE: Scroll down to the bottom for a photo gallery of the Lafayette.

The history of the Lafayette Theatre, named for the Revolutionary war hero the Marquis de Lafayette, began when the Suffern Amusement Company hired noted theatre architect Eugene De Rosa to design a theatre for a location on Lafayette Avenue in downtown Suffern, New York. De Rosa's concept was a combination of French and Italian Renaissance influences, subtlety mixed in a "Beaux Arts" style. The theatre was also equipped with a custom-designed Möller organ to accompany silent films and augment live performances.

The Lafayette opened its doors in 1924 with the silent film classic Scaramouche and flourished through the rest of the 1920s with a combination of live vaudeville shows and film presentations. A renovation in 1927 added the distinctive opera boxes and shortly thereafter the projection equipment was updated to play the new miracle called "Talking Pictures". During the mid-1930s, an air-cooling system was installed which, unfortunately, forced the removal of the pipe organ. It was during this renovation that the original chandelier was also removed.

After World War II ended, movie-going habits changed with the advent of television. To keep pace with audience expectations, the Lafayette changed, too. Equipment to handle 3-D films was installed in early 1953 and many notable entries in the short-lived 3-D boom played at the Lafayette. Later that year, the Lafayette was the first theatre in Rockland County to install CinemaScope apparatus to show widescreen, stereophonic sound movies. The premiere engagement was the Biblical epic The Robe, during the Christmas holiday of 1953, and audiences flocked to the Lafayette to see it in the new widescreen process, modestly known as "The Miracle You See Without Glasses!"

The Lafayette's star faded during the 1950s and 1960s as downtown populations moved further into the suburbs and television took hold as the popular entertainment medium of the day. Luckily, the Lafayette was spared both the wrecking ball and the multiplexing boom, where large single-screen auditoriums were divided up into several small theatres to accommodate playing several films at once. As part of a minor renovation in the late 1980s, the old stage was refurbished and the New York Theatre Organ Society installed a new pipe organ, the Ben Hall Memorial Mighty Wurlitzer. For more information about the organ, please visit www.nytos.org .

In the late 1990s, the Lafayette's future as a single-screen neighborhood movie palace was uncertain until Robert Benmosche, a resident of Suffern and chairman of MetLife Insurance, saw the potential of the Lafayette building and purchased the property in 2001, making repairs to the roof and exterior in order to prevent more serious damage from occurring.

Late in 2002, New Jersey theatre operator Nelson Page took a lease to operate the Lafayette Theatre as a single-screen movie theatre, erasing any lingering fears that the unique building would be converted to small auditoriums. Page's team began immediately to refurbish the interior of the theatre, spending considerable sums to bring back its luxurious pre-war style while investing it with modern projection equipment and concession areas. In September of 2003, a chandelier was hoisted to the ceiling of the Lafayette, the first time an ornate lighting fixture had been there since the 1930s, and it was a final signal of the rebirth and continued good health of Suffern's downtown treasure.

Thanks to Nelson's vision and enthusiasm, the Lafayette is again a downtown movie palace and remains the crown jewel of Rockland County. While continuing to run first-run films every day, the Lafayette also runs innovative programming to keep up with the changing tastes in entertainment. A weekly series of classic film presentations began in the spring of 2003, taking place on Saturday mornings, bringing in hundreds of film buffs every week. The future is bright at the Lafayette, combining first-run movies, film festivals, special events, and live entertainment.

The Lafayette Theatre, better than ever after 80 years!